John Patrick Gallagher a.k.a. (Uncle Jack)

Before I decided to write "A Journey into the Past", I wrote a short article for the Laurel Hill Cemetery Newsletter also titled "A Journey into the Past" about my Uncle Jack and his relationship with the cemetery and those who had once worked there. Here is that article;

I recently took a journey into the past with Jack Gallagher. Born May 31,1933 as John Patrick Gallagher, he lived across the street from Laurel Hill cemetery between the years 1946 and 1963. Growing up on Ridge Avenue meant having Laurel Hill as a playground. Jack spent many days exploring the cemetery's vast grounds reading headstones. Most people view cemeteries as places of horror and fear but not Jack. He viewed Laurel Hill as a place to learn. Jack learned math by the simple method of subtracting a person's date of birth from their date of death. Jack learned history by reading the headstones of the Civil War Generals and the Industrialists who were an important part of Philadelphia and Laurel Hill's past. Jack learned to appreciate and love various types of music by taking his bedroom pillow over to the Plumrr's family mausoleum and watching the concerts at the Robinhood Dell. Laurel Hill was also a place to learn about medicine and disease. Jack could tell when there was an epidemic just by reading headstones. All you had to do was walk over to the graves of the children who died while attending Girard College to know when a certain vaccination was discovered because as the years went by less and less graves were filled. But what Jack fondly remembers about Laurel Hill is the friendships he made with the Proud family especially Earl Proud, onetime superintendent of Laurel Hill cemetery. Jack recalls the days he spent playing cards with Earl in the cemetery's gatehouse kitchen. How Earl gave him a job mowing the South Section lawns at $1.15 per hour and worked five and a half days a week because Midvale Steel was on strike placing Jack, his father and two brothers out of work. In 1963, Jack left the neighborhood and Laurel Hill. But he stayed in contact with Earl. When Earl passed away in the late 1970's, Jack received a letter from Earl's daughter Jeanie. Jeanie told Jack how much she appreciated the friendship Jack had with her father. Jack will never forget that letter. Also Jack will never forget Laurel Hill and the part it had in his life.

Jack currently lives in Fort Worth, Texas. He is the father of six and the grandfather of five.

This article was written a few years ago. Today, Jack still lives in Texas and is the father of Eric (New Mexico), John (California), Brian (California), Matthew (Texas), Paul (Colorado) and Kathleen (Texas).
He is the grandfather of Jason & William (Eric), Finnegan & Shea (John), Reilly (Brian) and Kendall (Kathleen).